Value

by Ed Meyer

posted on April 25, 2010 in General Discussion | 2 Comments >>

On Sunday, I was looking at small field sizes at New York, Kentucky, and River Downs, where I work. I was surprised when I began to average out the prices. It was a little different than I thought….

I was always under the impression that you must have 12 horse fields or the races were not worth wagering. For River Downs, the field sizes will grow when racing in Ohio begins with Cleveland and Cincinnati. At present time, River faces competition from Beulah Park, a little over 150 mile away.

I took pen to paper, and examined the payouts on a rainy Sunday afternoon with seven races:

There were 46 horses that competed in 7 races.

The average win payout was $9.60

The average exacta payout was $48.00

The average trifecta paid $ 210.00

The Pick-3 paid an average of $366.60

The following info caught me off guard. I thought it would have been much lower, and the Kentucky payouts at Churchill Downs were a bit better. Both tracks are facing competition, and things will get better when other close tracks are not live racing. For Ohio, it should get considerably better as Beulah Park closes.

This has been the path of racing. There is no answer, but the future looks like less racing and more focus on what we have, instead of what we want.